SAN ANTONIO - San Antonio activist investor Sardar Biglari has sent a message to Cracker Barrel Old Country Store that he isn't going away.

A month after losing his second proxy fight with Cracker Barrel, Biglari disclosed last week that his holding company has upped its stake in the Tennessee-based restaurant and retail chain to just less than 20 percent.

Biglari, who has criticized Cracker Barrel management and pushed for change, reported his firm now owns 19.99 percent of Cracker Barrel's stock. That's up from about 17.3 percent.

To fend off Biglari's advances, Cracker Barrel stockholders last month supported a "poison pill," or shareholders' rights plan, that Cracker Barrel President Sandra B. Cochran had said was "designed to prevent Mr. Biglari from taking creeping control of Cracker Barrel without paying a premium to all shareholders."

The plan is triggered when a person or group acquires 20 percent or more of Cracker Barrel's stock. If that happened, the plan would give shareholders other than Biglari's firm, Biglari Holdings, the right to purchase shares of Cracker Barrel at a discount to their market price. That would have the effect of diluting Biglari Holdings' shares.

Also at Cracker Barrel's annual meeting last month, shareholders rejected bids by Biglari, Biglari Holdings' chairman and CEO, and its vice chairman, Trinity University professor Philip Cooley, for seats on Cracker Barrel's board. Biglari lost a bid for a board seat last year, too.

Biglari Holdings, which has been Cracker Barrel's largest shareholders, now holds more than 4.7 million shares. Those shares are worth about $300 million based on Friday's closing price of $63.47 a share.

It was previously disclosed that Biglari Holdings has clearance from regulators to buy up to just less than 50 percent of Cracker Barrel's stock.

Separately, Biglari Holdings postponed a special shareholders meeting for the second time.

The company, parent of the Steak 'n Shake restaurant chain, had scheduled a meeting for Friday to allow shareholders to vote on a proposal to increase shares of all classes of stock the company is authorized to issue from 12.5 million to 60 million.

The meeting originally was scheduled for Nov. 2 but was postponed to Friday.

Biglari couldn't be reached for comment, though he generally reserves his comments for shareholder meetings and letters. A Cracker Barrel spokeswoman referred a reporter to previous statements it has made regarding Biglari Holdings' stake in the chain.